


The New Reality

by sanctum_c



Series: Renegade Endless Summer 2019 [2]
Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Non-Explicit Sex, Originally Posted on Tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-02-23 05:14:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23006302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctum_c/pseuds/sanctum_c
Summary: Aeris wakes during the night while the party stays at Kalm.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Tifa Lockhart
Series: Renegade Endless Summer 2019 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1653427
Comments: 4
Kudos: 72





	The New Reality

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt '"I'm going to hug you now'"

Amazing how tired she was. A long day, a long few days. Before reaching Kalm, Aeris and Avalanche had found near everyone in the Shinra building dead – purportedly slain by the supposedly dead Sephiroth. And after a less than comfortable sleep preceded by a different uncomfortable sleep at Hojo’s hands. Not to mention the kidnapping and the slap and all the events surrounding her since meeting Cloud Strife.

Also: tangling with Rufus Shinra. Stealing a car. Crashing said car through a plate-glass window. Racing down the Midgar highway while Shinra troopers assailed them. Fighting Shinra’s robot. Walking all the way to Kalm. And listening to the strange tale of when Sephiroth went to Nibelheim. Aeris had felt pretty wired at first, unsure she would sleep. But soon after she crawled into bed in her shared room with Tifa she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. Until now.

A soft noise in the dark. Momentary disorientation. This was not home, not the cells in the Shinra building. Memory returned. Kalm. And relative safety. The sound came again. Muffled and indistinct. Another sound from Tifa’s bed. A sniff and a sob.

Tifa was crying. “Hey.” Aeris kept her voice soft. Sometime in the early hours of the morning; everyone would be asleep. “Are you okay?”

“Fine.” Her voice was strangled. “Sorry I woke you. I’m okay.” A sigh. “Go back to sleep.”

Easier to see in the dim light now; Tifa curled up on her bed, facing away from Aeris. “Do you… do you want to talk about it?”

Silence. Aeris held her breath, straining for the slightest sound. “It’s nothing.” Aeris hummed, waiting. “I… I was thinking about them.”

Ah. These last few days though hard for Aeris, were nothing compared to what had befallen Tifa and Barret. Their home lost. Marlene feared dead for horrible, long hours. Friends and neighbours killed in the Sector Seven disaster. The death of the previous members of Avalanche. Perhaps this was the first opportunity Tifa had to dwell on the new reality. Not on the run, not imprisoned. Not meditating on the past. In the dark night when she might feel all alone. “Tifa…”

“I feel… Is it my fault? They responded to us. We blew up their reactors, so they tried to squash us.” Tifa’s voice rose with a strained wobble. “And they did. They got Biggs and Wedge and, and, J-“ Another sob.

“It’s not your fault.” Aeris gripped her sheets, wanting to move to the other bed. A hundred assurances died on her lips; all of them the wrong thing to say, all of them trying to make out Shinra had over-reacted with the massacre they perpetrated on the populace of Midgar, on the Planet itself.

“But if we’d tried a different way-“

“Then, we would not be having this conversation. You’ve lived in Midgar long enough; you know protestors never seem to last.” Shinra could do little about their reputation in the slums, but as long as people paid their bills – or could cover the cost in some other way – they cared little. Big demonstrations demonising them were seemingly tolerated for a time. But nothing happened. Who could anyone appeal to? The city’s mayor had an office inside the corporation and effectively useless for years. The best they could hope to appeal to was Wutai, but they would be unlikely to move against Shinra.

“I know. But. But maybe they’d still be here.”

Jessie and Biggs Aeris knew not at all; she had spent a handful of seconds in the company of Wedge as he breathed his last. What had Tifa’s friends been like? Whoever they were, they had struck back against Shinra in a way like no other group opposed to the corporation. Aeris shuffled forward. “Tifa?”

“Aeris?”

“I know we’ve not known each other a huge amount of time-“ Two days at best count and given the circumstances of their meeting, not a normal start to friendship. They were friends, Aeris was sure of this after the walk to Kalm. New friends, but friends. “But I think… I’m gonna hug you now.” She slid from her bed. Tifa said nothing to deter her. She lifted the covers and slid into bed beside Tifa, awkwardly pulling her into her arms. Aeris squeezed. Tifa relaxed slowly; she twisted around to hug Aeris properly.

“Sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry for.” Aeris rubbed her back. “If you need to cry, then cry. It helps.” A silent sob against her, Tifa pressing her head harder against Aeris’s shoulder. Aeris held her tight; Tifa let her sadness flow out of her.


End file.
